1998 was definitely a year for the books and made a lasting impression on our modern history. For starters, Google was born, as Seinfeld came to an end. Other “births” included the first iMac and the dawn of MP3 players. It was also a simpler time when it was easier to impeach presidents. Who can forget Bill Clinton’s statement, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman?” Yup, that happened twenty years ago. However, let’s stay on track with music.
Currently collapsing under the weight of multiple reality shows, its sadly difficult to remember MTV airing music-related shows. However, 1998 was the beginning of Total Request Live and who can forget KoRn’s video premiere for “Freak on a Leash,” which premiered the year after the 1998 release of their third album Follow the Leader.
Obviously, we can say a lot about this year including several albums that were released such as Helloween’s Better Than Raw, Katatonia’s Discouraged Ones, Blind Guardian’s Nightfall in Middle-Earth, Cradle of Filth’s Cruelty and the Beast, Dying Fetus’ Killing on Adrenaline, Fear Factory’s Obsolete, At the Drive-In’s In/Casino/Out, Opeth’s My Arms, Your Hearse, Hole’s Celebrity Skin, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s The Christmas Attic, Marilyn Manson’s Mechanical Animals, Death’s Sound of Perseverance, Apocalyptica’s Inquisition Symphony, Primordial’s A Journey’s End, Converge’s When Forever Comes Crashing, Angelcorpse’s Exterminate, Angra’s Fireworks, King Diamond’s Voodoo and Marduk’s Nightwing.
Now that we got that out of our system, similar to our 10 debut albums from 2008, here are 10 debut albums that were released in 1998. This list wasn’t easy to narrow down, since there are many debut albums celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2018.
Cave In – Until Your Heart Stops (Hydra Head)
Cave In recorded Until Your Heart Stops while the group were going through a major line-up shuffle. It is considered as their official first studio album and they have released only one album since their return in 2009 with their overall fifth record 2011’s White Silence. That’s mainly because Stephen Brodsky is keeping himself busy with Mutoid Man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q3LvRSZkBk&list=PL933C60B78535E927
Exhumed – Gore Metal (Relapse)
Let’s start with the artwork for Gore Metal, and then reflect on songs “In My Human Slaughterhouse,” “Limb from Limb” and “Blazing Corpse.” As brutally disgusting the visuals for this record are, it’s still considered as one of the greatest deathgrind albums ever. Exhumed are still bashing our skulls both musically and mentally twenty years later including their latest effort 2017’s Death Revenge.
The Haunted – The Haunted (Earache)
The Haunted made our jaws drop after listening to their almost-perfect intensified debut self-titled masterpiece. As the years past by, the lineup continued to shuffle, which eventually changed their musical style. Their debut is arguably the best we have seen from them, yet, they do continue to push out new material including 2017’s Strength In Numbers via Century Media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J24sPbDca3Y
Inquisition – Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient (Sylphorium Records)
After nearly a decade of thrash experiments, Inquisition released their debut album Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient in 1998. It was their unique spin on black metal. Between the gritty-raw-like production quality and Dagon’s eccentric vocals, it was the fact that this group consisted of two members. The lineup remains untouched and we noticed that in their latest effort 2016’s Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith.
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age (Loosegroove)
Yes, QOTSA isn’t metal but, we can’t forget that Kyuss used to exist while 2002’s Songs for the Deaf wouldn’t have been made without the group’s formation, which provided us with their self-titled debut album, which has the most in common sonically with Josh Homme’s last band. Leaving his recent incident aside, these hard rockers have grown tremendously since and their latest effort Villains is considered as one of the best albums of 2017.
